Government and Politics

In 1993 Bahrain was a constitutional monarchy in the form of an
amirate with an executive-cabinet form of government and a separate
judiciary. The amir is head of state and also supreme commander of the
Bahrain Defense Force (BDF); he exercises ultimate authority in all
matters pertaining to the government. In addition to the amir, Shaykh
Isa ibn Salman, principal government officials include his eldest son
and heir apparent, Hamad ibn Isa, who is commander in chief of the BDF
and deputy prime minister, and several other members of the ruling Al
Khalifa. In accordance with the constitution adopted in 1973, the office
of amir passes from father to eldest son unless the amir designates
another male relative to succeed him. This clause of the constitution is
not subject to amendment.

Although the amir has substantial executive powers, in practice he
has delegated decision-making authority to a cabinet since 1956, when an
amiri decree created the Administrative Council, an eleven-member body
that advised the ruler on policy and supervised the growing bureaucracy.
In 1970 Shaykh Isa ibn Salman issued a decree that transformed the
Administrative Council into a twelve-member Council of Ministers. The
president of the Council of Ministers, the prime minister, serves as the
head of government. The amir appoints the prime minister, who then forms
a government by selecting members of the Council of Ministers, albeit in
consultation with the amir. The ministers are directly responsible to
the prime minister, who, like the amir, has authority to veto a decision
by any member of the council.

The Council of Ministers gradually expanded to include eighteen
members, including the prime minister and the deputy prime minister. In
late 1992, the prime minister, deputy prime minister, and seven of the
sixteen ministers were members of the ruling Al Khalifa. The prime
minister, Khalifa ibn Salman, is the brother of the amir. The amir's son
holds the cabinet rank of deputy prime minister. The amir's uncle, Major
General Khalifa ibn Ahmad, is minister of defense; and the amir's two
first cousins, Muhammad ibn Khalifa and Muhammad ibn Mubarak, are
minister of interior and minister of foreign affairs, respectively.
Khalifa ibn Salman, the son of the amir's second cousin, is minister of
labor and social affairs. A more distantly related cousin, Abd Allah ibn
Khalid, a first cousin of the amir's grandfather, is minister of justice
and Islamic affairs.